Chapter 4

4

E rik had seen his brother talking at length to Accalia and had assumed he was warning her about his triplet sons. He hadn’t told his brother he couldn’t speak to her about it and in a way, he was glad she knew before they arrived home. However, he had intended to mention it before then.

Finlay rode up to speak with him. “What do you think of the lass so far?”

Erik took a deep breath and exhaled. “She has the heart of a warrior.” Which he greatly admired. His late wife wouldn’t have been armed and fought assailants.

“Aye. Philbin said he and the other guards had to keep her in camp. She felt they needed to be with you to fight the thieves when they tried to sneak into camp.”

Erik smiled. “I expected her to provide an alliance, have children with me, and be a mother to my sons. And to run the household staff as she would have been trained. I didna expect her to fight my battles.”

Finlay agreed. “How do you think the lads will feel when she arrives?”

Erik shook his head. He was certain his sons would not be on their best behavior when they arrived home, especially since Accalia might become their mother. That meant more rules and another person to enforce those rules. The nannies let them get away with too much nonsense because they were the chief’s sons.

When they stopped for the night, he caught Accalia watching him, but then she settled down on his fur and looked away. She had barely eaten anything when they took their earlier break from riding. That worried him. He stalked across the campsite and joined her.

“Are you ill?” he asked.

“I am well. You dinna need a mate, I hear. When were you going to tell me about your sons? Or anything else about this arrangement between us?”

“I dinna need an heir, aye. I want more children by my new mate. But I need a mother for the boys.”

“But you dinna need a mate. If I was agreeable, that is.”

He let out his breath in exasperation. He’d fought with himself over the notion of mating another she-wolf, feeling he was being disloyal to his deceased wife. He’d even thought to marry a woman, but never mate her, so he thought he would put that out there. “To anyone else, you would be my mate, but we dinna have to consummate the relationship. You would raise my sons as your own and the agreement between your da and me would be secure.”

Her mouth gaped. She looked astonished, hurt even. Her da said she would be pleased with the arrangement though her da had suggested that Erik wait to tell her that until he got to know her better. He guessed he should have.

“When I marry a wolf, it will be with a mating. If we dinna suit, fine. But I willna marry you to be your…wife in name only. My mate will be in my bed.”

“We can sleep together.”

“Och, you canna be so daft as to think I would go along with such an arrangement.”

“Daft?” Erik’s lips slightly parted in a show of surprise, because he was well and good surprised. His potential mate was calling him daft?

Maybe Accalia should have chosen her words more carefully since he was the clan chief. Then she smiled at him. No, she couldn’t think of another word that said what she had wanted to say.

Accalia had always planned to have children of her own. She couldn’t imagine raising someone else’s bairns and never having a real mate or her own children.

No way was she going to pretend to be mated to a wolf when it wasn’t true.

“With me, this is all about an alliance,” she carefully said. “What of your mate? Did you gain an alliance with her mating?” She wondered if he was allied with anyone else because of his mate. Did she have family members who might object to his marrying her? To be the mother of Erik’s sons? That could cause all kinds of conflict.

He sighed. “Nay. I met her at a tavern back home. Her parents owned it. She caught my eye, and I was moonstruck. She soon learned that I was a pack leader and told her da who immediately wanted her to marry me.”

“You…you had the wolf longing for her and she for you?” Accalia wondered if he had felt forced into it, or if his mate had tricked him, and it hadn’t been a case of true love.

“Aye.”

She nodded, wishing they hadn’t been in love, that it had been an arranged marriage, and that the she-wolf had left a job of working in a tavern for her da to managing a castle, which would have elevated her position. Then if Erik met another she-wolf after his former mate had died, and he and a new mate meant something to one another, it would be all good.

“What about her family? How will they feel about you taking another mate if you do? Some families wouldna like it or would feel they have some say in the matter since mating again can affect your lads.”

“They are all gone. She had no siblings, her parents were deceased, and she had no other relations. So there’s no one to object to my taking another mate.”

“Except for your boys.”

He was silent, and she assumed his lads could cause issues with him taking a new mate. As she rode across the rocky landscape, climbing one hill, traversing a loch and a couple of streams, and making their way to a forest, she couldn’t stop thinking about what lay ahead.

They arrived at the castle after a half day of traveling without further incidence—to her profound relief—she saw his staff hurry out to greet them. Grooms took their horses, while men and women in the middle of chores came to look her over since she might become the chief’s wife. Five wolfhounds hurried out of the castle to greet Erik, perked ears, bristly fur, warm brown eyes, and feet as large as a wolf’s.

Three young lads resembling Erik with blond hair and blue eyes gawked at her with open mouths. She couldn’t deny they were adorable, but they didn’t seem approachable. Their unkempt hair and dirt-smeared faces and hands added to the unwelcoming atmosphere. If these were Erik's sons, she wondered why they hadn't run to him with open arms and big smiles.

Feeling lost and out of place, she had no idea what to say to anyone. She wasn’t even supposed to be here since she wasn’t mated to Erik. If they had done so at her da’s place, she would have a position here. Then she realized the boys were the reason she had to be here beyond all else.

“This is Accalia,” Erik said, reaching down to pet the dogs. “Has Cook prepared the meal?”

“I will check on it, my lord,” one of the women said and hurried into the castle.

The wolfhounds sniffed at Accalia, checking her out to make sure she could be part of their pack, and she petted them, then smiled at one of the maids. “You are Etta, are you no’?”

“Aye, my lady.” The redheaded woman smiled and curtsied.

“I remember you beating a young man at archery when you were a couple of summers older than me when I was here years ago.”

“Aye, my lady.” Etta blushed.

Then a redheaded maid approached Erik, giving Accalia a cursory glance, and then concentrating on Erik, a smile appeared on her face that made Accalia think of when she was forced to smile in a situation she wasn’t happy about. “We’re so glad you’re home again.”

Erik spared her a glance, inclined his head, and quickly looked away.

Accalia’s intuition told her the woman was interested in Erik, though Accalia tried to ignore the implication.

Suddenly, a dark-haired, middle-aged woman burst out of the castle and headed straight for Accalia. “You best leave right now. Turn around and return home to your da.”

“I’m a wolf too, and so is everyone in my clan,” Accalia said, reassuring Cook. “I’m so pleased to see you again.”

Cook’s mouth gaped.

“Is the meal ready?” Erik asked, sounding annoyed with Cook.

Cook gave him a disdainful look. “Aye. Young Dalton already arrived and told me you were on the way and would be putting people—me in particular—in the dungeon, if I didna have the meal ready for you.” Then she frowned at Accalia. “Dinna let him bully you, my lady.”

Accalia smiled at her. “He willna.”

Then Cook nodded and hurried back into the castle.

“This is Accalia,” Erik repeated to his people. “She will be with us for…some time.”

He didn’t say she was a special guest, or that he would mate her. But she suspected his people knew that was why he had brought her there.

“My lady, I will show you to your bedchamber,” Etta said.

“We eat first, and then you can show her where she will stay,” Erik said. “These are my boys: Thorfinn, Hendrie, and Johnne.”

So the little blond-haired boys were Erik’s sons, as she had suspected.

The first thought Accalia had was that they desperately needed a bath—before the meal. But she knew she couldn’t dictate what anyone would do, and having his servants wash up the boys before the meal when it was about to be served, wouldn’t go over well with Erik, she didn’t figure. It wasn’t any of her business. She didn’t believe she would end up being their…mother.

She noticed Erik hadn’t told her the name of the woman who stood close to him in a way that said he belonged to her.

Erik said, “Come. We’ll eat.”

Accalia walked with him into the castle while his staff hurried to join them for the meal. She remembered the grand entryway, and the lanterns on the walls, the only difference was a large tapestry on one wall showing white wolves running through the heather. She smiled to see the beautiful tapestry. The castle was clean, not smelly like before, for which she was grateful.

They entered the great hall where tables were set up vertically from the head table near the fireplace. Erik led her to the head table where she would sit next to him. The redhead sat at one of the lower tables, and Accalia felt smug about it. If she wasn’t mistaken and the woman was trying to stir up trouble between her and Erik, Accalia would put in her place.

“Who is the woman who came out to welcome you home?” Accalia didn’t want to give the woman any space in her thoughts, but the problem was she kept thinking about Uilleam running off with her friend. What if this woman had designs on Erik and his interest in her was mutual?

“Beathag.”

“And?” She didn’t want to drag it out of him, but if the woman meant anything to him, she needed to know that.

“She’s one of the women with the old clan, and she’s now a member of mine.” He glanced at Accalia as the ale was served. “Why? Do you know her from before?”

“Nay. But she seems to have some interest in you.”

Erik’s mouth curved up a wee bit. “She might, but ‘tis no’ important to me.”

She sighed. She wasn’t about to mention that Uilleam ran out on her before the mating, or mention she was worried about other competition. It would make her look fearful about nothing. If it hadn’t been for Uilleam, she wouldn’t have worried about it.

Erik turned to speak with his brother Logan.

Erik’s boys started chasing each other around their table, trying to catch one another. Why didn’t the boys’ nannies tell them to sit and behave as any child should at the meal? Finally, they took their seats.

Cook smiled at her as she brought the food to the high table, serving Erik, and then Accalia. “This looks as good as when you cooked for me before,” Accalia said to Cook, smiling at her.

Cook beamed with the compliment. She frowned at Erik. “I served the food for Accalia from the same vessel as yours. Do you still intend for me to taste yours?”

Looking nearly as serious as could be, Erik motioned to it. “Aye.”

Accalia swore he wore the slightest smile, a sparkle in his eyes when he said it and if she hadn’t been so observant, she wouldn’t have caught it. It was like a secret game between them, and Accalia enjoyed their playful banter. A sense of humor in a partner was a plus for her.

Cook took a taste, stood watching him, and raised her brows.

He motioned for her to leave and get on with serving the meal while the others on the kitchen staff did as well.

Accalia took a bite of her venison. “Your boys looked like they havena bathed in a while.” Like weeks, or they had been playing in the dirt all day.

He glanced at them as if he hadn’t noticed before. “You can take care of that matter after dinner. I will warn you they might be…quarrelsome for a bit.”

She didn’t know what to say or to do about it. She would have to see what would happen and take it from there. Unenviable tasks didn’t often stump her, but this time might be an exception.